The Portland daily press., 1887-08-09
ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD.
Claims Said to Have Been Paid More
Than Once.
Alleged Irregularities In California
Amount to $40, 900,
Commissioner Sparks Says a Great
Mistake Has Been Made.

NEW YORK. August S.-A special to the
Tribune from Washington says: "The publi-
cation respecting the payment by the Treas
ury Department of claims suspected to be
fraudulent has caused great perturbation
among certain Democratic officials. When
Controller Durham heard Of 1t he put on
his hat and lost no time in paying a visit to
the Interior Department What took place
between him and Secretary Lamar was not
disclosed after his return to his Office. Mr..
Durham had to say only that the Tribune
publication was correct as to the decision Of
the controversy between him and the CON-
missioner of the General Land Once; that
IL any frauds have been committed or i'm
proper payments made the Controllers Of
fee is not congnizant Of or responsible for
them, and that no payments have been
made which had not been duly certified by
the Commissioner Of the General Land
Office, as the law requires. He added, how
ever, that the question of his authority to
require the Commissioner to state an ac-
count was ably argued in behalf of his Of
fee by ex. Congressman Hurd and Thompson
and by Wilson S. Bissell of Buffalo. The
Attorney General did not agree with them.
Commissioner Sparks said: Yes, it Is
true that accounts have been paid which
were not certified by me. l think a great
mistake has been made The story Is long
one and the case is complicated so that /
have not time to go into details
1T is remembered now Observation-Disclosures
ham seemed especially anxious that the
Land Commissioner should state and certify
certain surveyors accounts, while in the
case OF officials in other branches OF the
mn IN hfc rad "a
be adverse to the settlement of accounts for
services; and yet for years the accounts OF
deputy surveyors, especially for surveys
under the deposit system" have been un-
der suspicion, and subjected to the most
rigid scrutiny. The Republican predecessors
of Commissioner Sparks repeatedly urged
the repeal of the deposit law, and Mr.. His
cock. when he was chairman of the appro
priati0ns comrpittee, tried but failed TO en-
6vdy such repeal in an appropriation law.
He did succeed, however, in deprivlng the
system Of its worst feature, and General
Sparks in his first report commended the re-
form, while he joined with his Republican
predecessors in recommending the abrOga-
tion OF the system itself. Of course, Con-
tr0rer Durham must have been aware OF
all these things, and hence his seeming
anxious to press the disputed and suspicious
accounts to settlement may be thought SIN
gular, while his attempt to control the action
of the Land Commissioner must be regarded
as strange and ill-considered
1T is asserted that the loss to the govern
ment by the irregular or unauthorized or
fraudulent payments for the California ac-
counts alone amounts to some $4,000
Treasury officials express the opinion that
such payments could have been made only
by duplication, and some Of them believe
that the worst that will be disclosed will be
that disallowances which have stood
for years unexplained and apparently aban-
doned haye been suddenly inexplicably re-
moved and the amounts allowed. These dis
allowances were made for many reasons,
for causes semetlpes technical, sometimes
vital. Sometimes the depfrtyJ surveyors filed
notes, in which trees and s.witness cl,ffiffeeSs"
were not properly shown, unallowabe ab-
breviations used, affidayits unot properly ex-
ecuted, plots not corresponding with field
notes, and so forth Sometimes the appro-
priaton had been exhausted and would not
cover all the survey and the remaining por-
ton would have to be restated in another
account to be paid when the new appropria-
ton should become available. In some
cases there were excesses Of repayment on
surveys conducted under the special deposit
system. The sudden removal of disaIIow-
ances after lapse Of ten or fifteen years
would be in itself suspicious and would re-
qulre thorough and satisfactory expana-
ton. But II Is again asserted that some
thing more than the removal of old disal-
lowances has taken place, in short, that
accounts have been allowed which have al
ready been paid and moreover it is asserted
that these allowances and duplicate pay
ments have been made by officials under
the present administration of economy and
REFORM"